


Root Systems

by Arinalle Fanirei (ShakyHades)



Series: Deviants 'verse [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, introspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:41:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22776562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShakyHades/pseuds/Arinalle%20Fanirei
Summary: With his wedding to Noctis just a few months away, Prompto spends a great deal of time thinking about what it means for him to be marrying into royalty. He’d be more than happy if some of the obvious consequences could be erased -- he is going to be nearly dead center in the public eye for as long as he lives -- but it’s not all bad.In fact, it might just gift him what he’s been unknowingly yearning for for his entire life.
Relationships: Prompto Argentum/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Series: Deviants 'verse [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/870384
Comments: 17
Kudos: 67





	Root Systems

**Author's Note:**

> Oh man, it's been so long since I've updated this series. But it isn't dead, I promise! I have _so much_ planned for it -- I gotta sit down and plan it out properly, but I've been putting it off for years now and there's also so many other ideas vying for my attention... But I can give y'all some pre-wedding fluffs. This one definitely has a different tone from the others in the series, what with it being _gen_ , but that's part of its arc. I hope you enjoy it!

Planning a royal wedding is no easy feat.

Prompto had already known, by courtesy of many movies and tv shows, that planning a wedding -- a normal one -- was a lot of work; however, none of them had prepared him to the ordeal that it was to figure out the details of your own wedding when the person you happen to be marrying is _royalty_.

Well, they are not the _only_ ones in charge of it, obviously -- gods help them if they were -- but there’s still _so many_ things that require their opinions and approval that they’ve been hard pressed to find any quiet.

That’s what makes this weekend their own personal heaven; two entire days of their schedules completely clear for Prompto and Noctis to spend as they see fit.

They had blissfully slept right through breakfast, bantered through all of lunch, to finally settle on the couch under a shared blanket with the game system turned on. Additionally, there’s a heavy storm going on outside, catching Prompto’s attention. He studies the dark and foreboding clouds with fascination from the vantage point of their apartment as Noctis takes the opportunity to make some headway in one of his RPGs.

He quietly ruminates as the rain pelters their balcony door and washes the Insomnian streets down below, snuggling closer to Noctis at the sight of distant lightning. Prompto is happy to finally have the time to think at his own pace -- there’s no one around waiting to hear his opinion on the design of the vases that will decorate the tables, nor for him to decide which songs he wants for their reception. Don’t get him wrong, he’d go through all of it again if it meant spending the rest of his life with Noctis, but it’s still tiring as all hells.

Prompto glances at the TV when Noctis curses, just in time to see him narrowly escape death by a giant, angry-looking queen bee. Prompto snickers, then presses a kiss to Noctis’ cheek once the fight is over, being rewarded by a proper, sweet kiss.

“You okay? It looks like you’re five star systems away,” Noctis smiles lopsidedly, looking at Prompto with so much _fondness_ that it makes his chest feel overfull.

“I might be,” Prompto snorts, settling closer to nuzzle his fiance’s shoulder. “Just thinking, I guess.”

“I hope you bring me some cool souvenirs from those exoplanets you’re visiting,” Noctis laughs.

“Kill some more bugs for me and I might,” Prompto teases back, gesturing at the TV.

“Your wish is my command,” Noctis intones, stealing another kiss before he goes back to his game.

Prompto absentmindedly pulls a loose thread from the blanket on their laps, wrapping it around his little finger and feeling the urge to wrap it around Noctis’ as well.

It’s surreal to think that after having dated for three years and having been engaged for _another_ three years, their wedding is just two short months away. Sometimes, Prompto remembers that he’s been friends with Noctis for nearly ten years; or that they’re barely twenty-three and already getting married, when many others wait until their late twenties to do so.

Over the years, there have been more than a handful of gossip articles wondering if Prince Noctis wasn’t commiting a mistake by marrying so young, especially given that Prompto is the only person he’s ever dated. Some of them argue that it’s too big a decision to be made at their age, while others still think that the prince would be better off marrying some rich heiress rather than a boy with no legacy to his name.

Prompto has gotten very good at ignoring those people; being able to do so is a matter of survival if one wishes to associate with royalty -- and Prompto plans on doing more than mere _‘associating’_. Plus, for every hateful article, there are a dozen that gush about how cute their relationship is: the Prince and the Pleb, high school sweethearts that survived graduation and are still holding strong.

Finishing that line of thought, the next thing to catch Prompto’s currently whimsical attention is Noctis’ black hair. He lifts a hand in order to ruffle the messy strands that his fiancé hadn’t bothered to brush, gently untangling some of the knots he finds along the way.

There’s something his mind has been going back to again and again in the past few weeks; something that he has so far been unable to shape into a coherent thought no matter how long he spends staring at the bedroom ceiling when he should be asleep. There are moments in which his fingers will scratch an edge and he’ll _almost_ get it -- but then it slips away again, back to it’s lurking space in the base of his mind.

This weekend is the perfect opportunity to finally tease it out of its hiding place. With his right hand buried in his fiance’s hair, working on autopilot, he lets his mind wander.

The only hint his brain had given him is that it appears to pertain to inheritances and legacies; he had felt this thought knocking around in his head for the first time when he saw that one article bemoaning the Prince’s decision to marry someone who would add nothing to the royal family: no connections, no funds, no history. Privately, Prompto thinks that the royal family has _more than enough_ of those things already -- a thought shared by Noctis, if how he wrinkled his nose upon seeing that article was any indication.

Thinking about his family history -- or lack thereof -- makes Prompto’s chest feel too tight. He had been brought to Lucis while still a baby by a mother he had no memory of, hoping to escape the famines that had been happening in Niflheim at the time. After her death a few months later, he had been adopted by a kind Lucian couple and raised as their own, but even though they always did their best to take care of him and raised him well, they had never really clicked as a family.

Being with Noctis is the closest he’s ever been to feeling like he _belongs_ somewhere; Noctis, Ignis and Gladio made space for him, _involved_ him; refused to leave him behind even though they came from considerably different backgrounds -- having friends as good as them meant the _world_ to Prompto.

 _And now I’m going to marry my best friend,_ Prompto thought with a hint of awe.

Remembering that he managed to catch the eye of someone as wonderful as Noctis never failed to leave him breathless and fill him with wonder that a guy as handsome, thoughtful and dorky as _Noctis_ could fall in love with someone like _Prompto_.

“Noct?” Prompto called, playing with the fine strands of hair on the other’s nape.

“Mm?” Noctis replied, giving him a half smile.

“I love you,” Prompto exhaled, eyes a bit wide at the intensity of the feeling that sprung up in his torso as he looked at his _future husband_.

Noctis’ smile in response to that was so big that it crinkled the corners of his eyes; his fiancé pressed _pause_ and set the controller aside, pulling Prompto into his lap before initiating a series of sweet and long kisses.

“I love you too, Prom,” Noctis said once he had gotten his fill, brushing Prompto’s nose with his own.

“Sometimes I can’t help but feel really amazed that you’ve chosen me, out of everyone else you could have had,” Prompto whispers, the admission too close to his heart to be spoken carelessly.

Noctis’ entire posture softens. “You dork,” he says, cupping Prompto’s head. “What’s not to love about you?”

Prompto shrugs with one shoulder and looks away, the weight of Noctis’ gaze too much for him to handle. Noctis’ thumbs brush over his cheeks in a motion so gentle that Prompto’s eyes close involuntarily.

“This has been bothering you for some time, hasn’t it?” Noctis asks softly.

Prompto bites his lip. “Maybe? I… hadn’t really realized it, I think.”

“We haven’t had much time to think lately,” Noctis muses. They share a rueful laugh.

“That’s true,” Prompto smiles.

Noctis’ thumbs continue their soothing movement; out of nowhere, Prompto kind of feels like crying, overwhelmed by how happy he is to have the other.

“Talk to me?”

Prompto takes a deep breath. “Do you remember that piece about how it was stupid of you to marry me, and how you should find a nice rich girl instead?”

Noctis narrows his eyes and his nostrils flare in irritation. “I do.”

“I guess I haven’t been able to let that go?” Prompto mumbles without any conscious thought, finally beginning to untangle that thread. “I really bring nothing to add to what you already have,” he continues, surprising even himself by how sincere the words are. “I know that this is not a transaction, but I still can’t help but feel like you’ve been giving me so much and that I don’t have anything to give you in return,” he fidgets.

“Aren’t you enough?” Noctis frowns unhappily. “You give me _you_ , Prompto. Your company, your enthusiasm, your willingness to find beauty where others think there are none. You’re sweet, cheerful by choice, and drop dead gorgeous to boot,” he smirks, huffing out a little laugh when Prompto blushes and squirms.

“...I have no history,” Prompto whispers. “No legacy. I have no idea who my biological family is,” he continues, voice becoming smaller with every word.

“So what?” Noctis prods him gently. “That doesn’t matter. I don’t care that you don’t have those things. I know that the fact that I _do_ have them ends up making you acutely aware of how you _don’t_ , but Prom, that doesn’t _matter_ ,” he insists. “You don’t need to have your own place in history, because I’m _more_ than happy to share mine with you.”

At such sweet words, Prompto is truly helpless to stop the tears that start to gather in his eyes. “Noct--”

“I want to share _everything_ with you, Prom,” Noctis continues, gently thumbing away his tears. “Isn’t this what the whole marriage thing is about?” he laughs. “You will be officially part of my family -- though you already _are_ part of it, in the eyes of everyone that matters.”

“Stop making me cry,” Prompto laughs wetly.

“It’s not my fault that the truth makes your tear ducts go haywire,” Noctis smirks, shark-like.

“It makes my _chest_ go haywire,” Prompto corrects. “You’re too good to me.”

“We’re just the right amount of good for each other,” Noctis counters, “and I’ll fight you on that.”

“So mean, going against a defenseless man.”

“Are you kidding me? Your insecurities are armed to the teeth; I gotta respond in kind,” Noctis snorts, drawing him into another chain of kisses. Once they part, he pulls Prompto into an embrace that smells and feels like _home_ \-- a place to belong; a shore to drop anchor at; a fertile soil to sustain his roots.

“I love you so much that I don’t know what to do with myself sometimes,” Prompto confesses.

Noctis hums. “We can figure that out together.”

“Mhm,” Prompto agrees, relaxing into a small, happy puddle on his best friend’s lap.

They stay like that for a few minutes -- with the storm still raging on outside, and the peaceful music from the game’s menu still looping -- before Noctis speaks up again.

“Prompto Lucis Caelum,” he says, with a level of wonder that sends a shiver down Prompto’s spine. “It sounds good, doesn’t it?” he asks, smiling dopily.

Prompto blushes, feeling his insides turn to happy, fuzzy mush “...It does.”

“You’re gonna be mine,” Noctis continues, still sounding awed.

“I’m already yours, you dork,” Prompto chuckles. “Just like you’re already mine.”

“Yeah, of course,” Noctis snorts. “But then we’ll have physical proof that you belong with us; that you’re a part of us. Then you can’t claim to not have a history anymore, because you’ll be a Lucis Caelum just like us,” he explains.

Prompto smiles and caresses his fiance’s cheek, five tender words away from bursting into a puddle of happy goo.

“Sometimes I’ll forget how sweet you are, and then you’ll come and hit me with something like that,” he laughs silently.

“Gotta keep you on your toes,” his fiancé nods solemnly. “For the rest of our lives,” he grins.

“I’m gonna overdose on sugar before the wedding if you keep this up,” Prompto snorts.

“Which would be a tragedy,” the other nods again.

“Yes,” Prompto agrees, stealing a few kisses of his own before he vacates Noctis’ lap and snuggles back onto his side. “it’s time you killed some more bugs for me, I think,” he teases.

“Again, your wish is my command, Your Highness.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm @thefiresofmustafar on tumblr!


End file.
